Vicki E. Murray
Education
The High Price of Failure in California: How Inadequate Education Costs Schools, Students, and Society
More than a decade ago, in 1996, the California State University (CSU) trustees adopted a policy to reduce the need for remediation to no more than 10 percent of incoming freshmen by 2007. In 1998, the state outlawed K12 social promotion, requiring schools to retain any student performing below grade-level ...
Commentary
The Costs of California’s “Promote Now, Pay Later” Plan
SACRAMENTO—Last month students across California graduated from high school eager to start college in the fall. How many will wind up in remedial classes repeating work they should have already mastered? The numbers—and the price tag—are probably a lot more than you think. The failure to prepare a single cohort ...
Commentary
How state violates students’ right to safe schools
Lincoln News Messenger (CA), June 19, 2008 Editor’s note: This editorial refers to suspension rates for violence and drugs at local schools, a topic covered in depth on the front page of the News Messenger. While the numbers might seem alarming, many of the suspensions referred to in this editorial ...
Commentary
Reshuffling is not reform
Arizona Capital Times, June 13, 2008 This November, Arizona voters will decide whether 76 school districts should be combined into 27 larger, unified districts. Prompting the ballot initiative is the fact that fewer than six cents of every education dollar ever reaches the classroom. But don’t bank on statewide unification ...
Charter Schools
Incentive Programs Improve Student Achievement in Charter Schools
Sacramento Union, June 5, 2008 SACRAMENTO – Rewards and incentives, widely used in charter schools, play a key role in reading achievement, according to Paying for A’s, a new report from the Center for Education Research Outcomes at Stanford University. “Incentive programs may not be a silver bullet, but they ...
Commentary
School-choice successes grow
Georgia approves private-school scholarships funded with tax credits Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue signed into law last week a universal school-choice program that uses corporate and individual tax credits to create $50 million in scholarships to private schools. The law is the latest advance in the school-choice movement, which has seen ...
Commentary
Testimony submitted to the CA Assembly Committee on Revenue and Taxation – AB-2605
Vicki E. Murray, Ph.D. and senior fellow in Education Studies, gave invited testimony on AB 2605, the Tax Credits for Non-Public School Families bill, at a meeting of the California Assembly Revenue and Taxation Committee on May 6, 2008. Non-public schools are a vibrant and integral part of California’s educational ...
Commentary
California Report Card Shows Dismal Results
School Reform News (The Heartland Institute), May 1, 2008 A February 15 report card from the Pacific Research Institute (PRI), a free-market think tank based in California, evaluated and graded 17 aspects of California’s K-12 education system, finding the state’s performance disastrously poor. Among the factors evaluated are the state’s ...
Commentary
Testimony submitted to the CA Assembly Committee on Revenue and Taxation – AB-2561
Vicki E. Murray, Ph.D. and senior fellow in Education Studies, gave invited testimony on AB 2561, the Pupil Opportunities Transfers bill, at a meeting of the California Assembly Revenue and Taxation Committee on April 28, 2008. California school children are in desperate need of high-quality schools. Nearly 1.7 million students ...
Commentary
Testimony submitted to the California Assembly Education Committee – AB-2739
Vicki E. Murray, Ph.D. and senior fellow in Education Studies, gave invited testimony on AB 2739, the Student Proficiency Transfers bill, at a meeting of the California Assembly Education Committee on April 10, 2008. AB 2739 would allow students who individually score below grade-level proficiency on the California Standards Test ...
The High Price of Failure in California: How Inadequate Education Costs Schools, Students, and Society
More than a decade ago, in 1996, the California State University (CSU) trustees adopted a policy to reduce the need for remediation to no more than 10 percent of incoming freshmen by 2007. In 1998, the state outlawed K12 social promotion, requiring schools to retain any student performing below grade-level ...
The Costs of California’s “Promote Now, Pay Later” Plan
SACRAMENTO—Last month students across California graduated from high school eager to start college in the fall. How many will wind up in remedial classes repeating work they should have already mastered? The numbers—and the price tag—are probably a lot more than you think. The failure to prepare a single cohort ...
How state violates students’ right to safe schools
Lincoln News Messenger (CA), June 19, 2008 Editor’s note: This editorial refers to suspension rates for violence and drugs at local schools, a topic covered in depth on the front page of the News Messenger. While the numbers might seem alarming, many of the suspensions referred to in this editorial ...
Reshuffling is not reform
Arizona Capital Times, June 13, 2008 This November, Arizona voters will decide whether 76 school districts should be combined into 27 larger, unified districts. Prompting the ballot initiative is the fact that fewer than six cents of every education dollar ever reaches the classroom. But don’t bank on statewide unification ...
Incentive Programs Improve Student Achievement in Charter Schools
Sacramento Union, June 5, 2008 SACRAMENTO – Rewards and incentives, widely used in charter schools, play a key role in reading achievement, according to Paying for A’s, a new report from the Center for Education Research Outcomes at Stanford University. “Incentive programs may not be a silver bullet, but they ...
School-choice successes grow
Georgia approves private-school scholarships funded with tax credits Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue signed into law last week a universal school-choice program that uses corporate and individual tax credits to create $50 million in scholarships to private schools. The law is the latest advance in the school-choice movement, which has seen ...
Testimony submitted to the CA Assembly Committee on Revenue and Taxation – AB-2605
Vicki E. Murray, Ph.D. and senior fellow in Education Studies, gave invited testimony on AB 2605, the Tax Credits for Non-Public School Families bill, at a meeting of the California Assembly Revenue and Taxation Committee on May 6, 2008. Non-public schools are a vibrant and integral part of California’s educational ...
California Report Card Shows Dismal Results
School Reform News (The Heartland Institute), May 1, 2008 A February 15 report card from the Pacific Research Institute (PRI), a free-market think tank based in California, evaluated and graded 17 aspects of California’s K-12 education system, finding the state’s performance disastrously poor. Among the factors evaluated are the state’s ...
Testimony submitted to the CA Assembly Committee on Revenue and Taxation – AB-2561
Vicki E. Murray, Ph.D. and senior fellow in Education Studies, gave invited testimony on AB 2561, the Pupil Opportunities Transfers bill, at a meeting of the California Assembly Revenue and Taxation Committee on April 28, 2008. California school children are in desperate need of high-quality schools. Nearly 1.7 million students ...
Testimony submitted to the California Assembly Education Committee – AB-2739
Vicki E. Murray, Ph.D. and senior fellow in Education Studies, gave invited testimony on AB 2739, the Student Proficiency Transfers bill, at a meeting of the California Assembly Education Committee on April 10, 2008. AB 2739 would allow students who individually score below grade-level proficiency on the California Standards Test ...
